Michele M. Christiansen Forster | |
---|---|
Judge of the Utah Court of Appeals | |
Assumed office June 2010 | |
Nominated by | Jon Huntsman Jr. |
Personal details | |
Born | 1970 (age 53–54) Utah |
Education | Lawrence University (BA) S.J. Quinney College of Law (JD) |
Michele Mladejovsky Christiansen Forster (born 1970) is an American lawyer who has served as a judge of the Utah Court of Appeals.
Forster was born in 1970 in Utah. She attended Lawrence University in Appleton,Wisconsin and earned her undergraduate degree in history,making the Dean's List for academic achievement. [1] She also completed a senior research project in fall 1991 [2] entitled:"Mormonism and the Search for Community in Early Nineteenth Century America" as part of a Newberry Library Seminar:Research in the Humanities program. [3]
Forster returned to Utah to attend law school at the University of Utah College of Law. [4] While in law school from 1992–1995,she worked as a law clerk at Parsons,Behle &Latimer,a Salt Lake City law firm,during the summers. [5] In 1994,she served a judicial internship with Utah Court of Appeals Judge Judith Billings. She worked as a Legal Writing and Research tutor and a teaching assistant while in law school. During her second year in Law School,Forster was a staff member for the Utah Law Review and published Utah Redevelopment Amendments in 1993. She graduated with her J.D. in 1995. [6]
In October 1995,Forster was admitted to the Utah State Bar. [7] After graduating from law school,Judge Forster became the first law clerk for Judge Tena Campbell of the United States District Court for the District of Utah,just appointed to the court earlier that year. [4]
Following her clerkship,Forster became an associate at the Salt Lake City firm of Parsons,Behle &Latimer. [6] She focused on civil litigation,particularly involving natural resources. [4]
In 1998,Forster became an assistant United States attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Utah. [6] She came to that office under a new initiative,Utah Federal Immigration Prosecution Project (FIPP),created to prosecute crimes committed by illegal immigrants. [8] She focused on prosecuting illegal aliens who had been convicted of a felony and had been deported,but who had returned to the United States and committed another felony crime. [8] Later,Christiansen's focus at the United States Attorney's changed and she began prosecuting child exploitation,child pornography and other violent crime cases. She handled several rape cases and other child sexual abuse cases involving Native Americans on reservations.
Forster left the U.S. Attorney's Office in January 2005 when she was appointed as the executive director of the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) by Jon Huntsman,Jr.,Utah's newly elected governor. [4] While serving in the policy advisor position,Forster was appointed chair of the Utah Sexual Violence Council. [9] In July 2006,Forster was appointed as general counsel to Governor Huntsman. [10] During this time,Christiansen also co-chaired the Utah Methamphetamine Joint Task Force. [5]
Huntsman appointed Forster a Third Judicial District Court judge in May 2007. [4] Her docket was about 85 percent criminal cases and 15 percent civil cases. [5] For 18 months,she presided over a mental health court,a specialty court in which members of the defense,the prosecution and medical providers work as a team to resolve and deal with criminal defendants that suffer from mental health problems.
When Huntsman left the governorship in 2009 to be the United States Ambassador to China,Huntsman chose Forster to swear him in. [11] Governor Gary Herbert appointed Forster to the Utah Court of Appeals in May 2010. She was unanimously confirmed by the Utah State Senate in June 2010.
Forster has been extensively involved in various professional organizations over the years. In the fall of 2004,Forster was profiled in the University of Utah’s alumni magazine,Continuum. [12] She served as a member of the University of Utah Young Alumni Board from 2004–2007. [5] In 2009,Judge Forster was recognized on the Utah Legal Elite List compiled by Utah Business magazine. [13]
Scott Milne Matheson Jr. is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He has served on that court since 2010.
John Fitch Kinney was a prominent American attorney,judge,and Democratic politician. He served as Justice of the Supreme Court of Iowa,twice as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Utah and one term as the Territory of Utah's Delegate in the House of Representatives of the 38th Congress.
Michael Roland Murphy is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Dale Albert Kimball is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah.
Stephen Hale Anderson is an inactive Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
David Kent Winder was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah.
Robert K. Hilder was a Third Judicial District Court Judge in Utah. The Third District consists of Salt Lake,Summit,and Tooele counties. He was elected Summit County attorney and was sworn in on January 5,2015. Prior to that he did extensive mediation and arbitration work.
Jill Annette Niederhauser Parrish is an American lawyer who serves as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah. She served as a justice of the Utah Supreme Court from 2003 to 2015.
Judge Bruce C. Lubeck is a district court judge in the U.S. state of Utah.
Julie V. Lund is a juvenile court judge for Utah's Third District Juvenile Court;she serves Salt Lake,Summit,and Tooele Counties. She was appointed to the position by Governor Gary Herbert on November 9,2010 to replace Judge Sharon P. McCully,who retired in September of that year.
Joseph C. Fratto Jr. currently presides as a Utah Third Judicial District court judge for Salt Lake County. He was appointed to the bench in 1997 by Utah Governor Michael O. Leavitt.
Glenn K. Iwasaki is a Utah attorney. He served as State Court Judge for the Third Judicial District Court,which serves Salt Lake,Summit,and Tooele counties of Utah. He was appointed to the bench in July 1992 by Governor Norman H. Bangerter,and has served there since. He retired on September 30,2011.
Judge Frederic (Ric) Oddone is an American attorney and judge serving in the Utah Third District Juvenile Court.
Carolyn Baldwin McHugh is an American lawyer and judge who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. and former Presiding Judge of the Utah Court of Appeals.
Sean David Reyes is an American lawyer and politician who has been the Attorney General of Utah since 2013. Appointed to the office by Governor Gary Herbert following the resignation of John Swallow,Reyes was reelected. Reyes is a member of the Republican Party and is a vocal and longtime supporter of Donald Trump. He has served as a county,state,and national delegate for the Republican Party and a member of the Utah Republican Party's State Central Committee.
George Webster Latimer was a Utah lawyer best known for representing Lt. William Calley Jr. in his court martial for the My Lai incident. Latimer was also a justice of the Utah Supreme Court from 1946 to 1951 and one of the three original members of the U.S. Court of Military Appeals from 1951 to 1961.
Paige Petersen is an American lawyer and judge,who is a justice of the Utah Supreme Court. She previously served as a Utah District Court judge from 2015 to 2017.
Michael N Martinez was the first Hispanic American lawyer in Utah. He went on to a long career in the law working in both government and private practice. He was a "vocal minority rights advocate" during his career,serving on many boards and commissions dedicated to furthering the rights of Hispanics and other people of color.
Diana Hagen is an American lawyer serving as a justice on the Utah Supreme Court. She served as a judge of the Utah Court of Appeals from 2017 to 2022.
Jill McKee Pohlman is an American lawyer from Utah who serves as a justice of the Utah Supreme Court. From 2016 to 2022,she was an associate presiding judge of the Utah Court of Appeals.